Starlight Rain
by Winter's angel
Summary: Quiefer fic...an unwanted visitation opens up different sides of both Quistis and Seifer, in each other's eyes. Characters belong to Square, not me comments and criticisms all welcome...just try to be nice, ne? ^_^


Starlight Rain

By Silver Dolphin

The crescent moon was way up high in the star-dotted sky, and her surroundings were silver and black. One glance at her watch told Quistis she should really be getting to bed – she had a mission early tomorrow, and it was already past twelve on her watch.

Silence reigned, and the cool damp breeze promised rain soon. But the starlight was so beautiful… until then she wasn't going anywhere – she was going to stay right here and enjoy a few precious moments alone. Well, almost alone. Squall and Rinoa had come out to the Quad earlier, but she doubted they knew she was above them, on the balcony adjoining Balamb Garden's grand ballroom.

"It's a little late to be out, wouldn't you say?" Quistis turned around with an inaudible half-groan at the sound of that familiar baritone. 

"Speak for yourself, Seifer." She stared up at him. While she was almost on eye-level with Squall, Seifer was much taller than his commander.

"Still, you do have a mission tomorrow. You won't be setting a very good example if any student sees you out wandering the night before a mission."

She sighed loudly. "Seifer, it's way past lights out. If any student sees me, he won't be wondering why I'm out 'wandering', as you say. The first thing he'll think of is saving his own skin."

"So? Students break the rules all the time."

"You should know," she muttered.

"So what are you doing out here?"

"What are _you_ doing out here?"

"I asked first." He joined her, leaning over the parapet to look down at the Quad. "Oh, I see. You're spying on the lovebirds."

"I am NOT so." She gave him a long, steady look, the one he called her don't-try-to-be-funny-with-me-young-man look. "Did you just come out here to ruin my peace and quiet, or did you want something?"

He gave her a quick, charming smirk. She had to admit, he _was_ very good looking. "About your mission tomorrow…"

"Yes?"

"Guess who's coming along?"

"Oh, no." She stared at him in consternation. "Oh no oh no oh no."

"Oh, yes." _His_ grin was broader than the moon up above.

"You? Of all people?" She did groan out aloud this time.

"What?" His grin became mocking. "Don't you want me?"

"Obviously NOT. I hate having to bail you out of scrapes just because you think you're too smart to follow instructions."

"That was a long time ago," he objected. A hurt expression flashed briefly in his eyes. No matter how he put an indifferent front to the whole Sorceress Knight's business, she knew how it stung when somebody brought it up. She'd had enough experience to understand that.

"Right. A long time ago. Best forgotten." 

They didn't speak for a long while, and she was actually beginning to relax again. Then Seifer broke the silence.

"You still want him, huh?" 

"Who?"

"Squall." He gestured down to the couple in the Quad.

"Squall's like my little brother," she reminded him with a slightly imperious shake of her head.

"So?"

"I watched him, Seifer. I watched him through the whole Ultemicia business. I watched him grow up and mature, and then I realized I wasn't in love with him. I was watching over him as an older sister, just like when we were all kids."

"It's raining," he said suddenly. Only then was she aware of the little drops of water stinging her skin. The light drizzle was kind of refreshing, though.

"Point being?"

"Point being, we should get out of the rain. You know, to stay dry? That's what people usually do."

"Stop trying to be clever, Seifer. You can go in if you want. I'm staying right here."

"I'll do anything you do."

The simple sentence was not lost on her. They'd said it to one another so many times, so long ago, when they were both little daredevils tempting jeopardy.

"We were really loggerheads as kids, huh?"

"Oh, yeah." She could still remember, vying with Seifer for power and command over the little gang. Both of them had been the eldest of the group, and both had always wanted to be the ringleader.

"Well, looks like you got further ahead in life than I did."

"That's because you think you're too good for anything else. If you'll just look at things from another person's point of view, you'll see that you're not always right."

"Oh, really." He didn't look too happy at her condescending tone. 

She gave him a flat look. "You sounded so sorry for yourself. Just giving you a piece of advice."

"Yes, Instructor." He mock-saluted.

"Stop that," She said crossly. "I've told you people time and time again not to call me that. I'm not an instructor anymore."

"Still feeling sore about it?" His smirk spoke volumes.

"Oh, shut up!"

"Yes, Instructor."

"Will you stop that?" she flared angrily, catching him by surprise.

"It really bothers you, huh?" his dark green eyes softened.

"Yes, as a matter of fact. It makes me feel positively antique."

"Is that the only reason?"

"You keep that over-smart mouth of yours shut, Seifer Almasy, or so help me - "

"Sorry," he interrupted. He was far closer to her than he should have been, but she was too damned pissed to notice.

She should have remembered that he had very quick reflexes. However, owing to her ire, that little piece of information had slipped her mind. And so she was totally unprepared when he swooped down and clamped his mouth over hers.

Seifer hadn't really meant anything by it. It was kind of a way to shut her up, and she did look very appealing, with the raindrops caught in her eyelashes and hair glinting in the starlight. What he hadn't expected was the force of her reply. Hyne, she kissed better than she lectured, that was for sure.

Her arms slid over his broad shoulders to clasp around his neck, all the while never breaking rhythm. He doubted she knew what she was doing – but he wasn't going to stop it either. His hands moved to undo the clasp holding her hair back, and then he was running his fingers through the smooth honey mass of silken strands, combing through it with an exquisite gentleness. 

"…I'm telling you, Sefie, it's way too late and too wet for anyone to be - WHOA!" Irvine stopped abruptly in his tracks as he burst in on the blond couple. From behind, Selphie crashed right headlong into him.

"Irvy, what - "

"Censored," Irvine replied quickly, with an impish glance at the other two, who'd stopped their little affair rather abruptly. "I was wrong. There _are_ other people besides us silly enough to be out there in the drizzle." He shepherded his petite girlfriend out of the balcony, talking rapidly all the way.

"Well." Seifer cleared his throat uncomfortably. Quistis's arms were still around his neck, and he was suddenly very conscious of the heat her body radiated. Oh, well. He braced himself for an ear chewing. 

Her smile was enigmatic, and she regarded him for a very long time. Finally, "Now I see why you're so popular among the girls."

Her unexpected comment only served to confuse him further. By all rights she should be screeching at him by now – and she was a very good screecher, for all her demure ways. He'd experienced it firsthand once before. He'd been slightly deaf after their little argument.

"You're not so bad yourself." If she wanted to play mysterious, so could he. 

"You're very warm, too." She rested her face on his collarbone, and he gazed down and the blonde head, a shade darker than his own, with suddenly soft green eyes.

"It's getting chillier. You want to go back?"

"I can take it if you can," she answered almost automatically. All through their childhood they'd always tried to outshine each other. But they were grown up now – no more childish games.

"Sure, you can." He knew that patronizing tone would irritate her. But the situation was getting very strange…and he was seeing another side of her he'd never seen before, and maybe he didn't want to.

Quistis glowered slightly at him. "I really hate it when you - "

"Do you suppose you could continue indoors?" he asked. "The rain's not getting any lighter."

"Don't be such a baby," She replied heartlessly.

"I'm not. You'll thank me when we both escape catching our deaths of colds."

Once indoors, she ran her fingers through her hair and held out her hand. "My clip, please?"

"Such nice manners." He returned the plain black clip to her. She shrugged and slipped it into her shorts pocket.

He ran his eyes over her slender figure and broke into a slow smirk. "My, Quistis, I never knew you could look this sexy." 

She whacked him on the shoulder. Hard. 

"Keep your eyes and your comments to yourself," she retorted.

"Had a good time?" he was subtly probing, feeling the situation out. It was just so…out of the ordinary, for her to kiss him like that and then pretend nothing had happened.

"Oh, all right." She exhaled slowly and tilted her head back, looking him straight in the eye. "I admit what happened out there was…unusual."

"What an understatement."

She ignored him and continued. "I never dreamed I'd actually be making out with you in the middle of the night, but I did. And it was…nice, kind of." She frowned thoughtfully, cocking her eyebrow as she did so. And she looked absolutely adorable. "But I don't think I…"

"What?" He was enjoying himself. It was rare to see bossy Quisty at a loss for words. Quistis was always confident, assertive…never unsure of herself.

"You know." He did, actually. It was written all over her face, and it was the same with any other girl.

"Yeah. You're thinking about love." He raised an eyebrow. "Why does every female think the way you do? Just because it felt good doesn't mean it was love."

"Right." She stared at the scar crossing the bridge of his nose. "I'm a mercenary. I've no time for things like that."

"Aren't we all?" He shrugged noncommittally, then flashed her a quick boyish smile. "Care to continue this in my room?"

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You do know what's probably going to happen, don't you?"

"Quisty," he stated bluntly, "I've had more one night stands than you can count."

"Oh." They made their way to his room in silence.

"So," Quistis said as she shut the door. "No promises."

"None." His hands came to rest on her shoulders and he searched her eyes. "Regrets?"

"I can live with them." She stared almost defiantly back at him.

"All right, then." She was clearly inviting him to start, because she'd wrapped her arms around his waist, and he wasted no time in accepting her invitation.

__

Morning…

Quistis sat with both legs up on the windowsill, looking out into the misty drizzle. The room was cold – thanks to Balamb Garden's powerful air-conditioning – and she was dressed only in the sleeveless white shirt and shorts she'd worn the night before. But she hadn't been cold the previous night. Seifer had seen to that.

She'd had a very enjoyable night, and very little sleep. But that was fine – she was used to operating on no sleep for days on end. Apparently Seifer was not: he lay dead to the world on his side of the bed, and she wasn't sure he'd wake if an earthquake shook the ceiling down on him. 

Sure, she'd had a hell of a time. And that left her with some very confused feelings.

Seifer was no more than a casual one-night stand. They'd made that very clear to each other the night before. But the way he'd treated her…with so much warmth and tenderness, it was as if the man she was sleeping with was a completely different person from the one who'd rivaled her so fiercely as a child, and then almost driven her bonkers as her student.

It was a ridiculous thought, but maybe…just maybe, in time to come, she could love that man.

She smiled a little at that, and at that moment Seifer rolled over and opened his dark emerald eyes.

"Morning," he said, admiring the way the pale diffuse light threw spears on her unbound hair.

She stood up and pushed her hair back absently. "I have to go change and get my things, and then we'll leave for Galbadia." She came over and kissed him.

"Mm." He suddenly came much more wide-awake, and his hand lingered on her arm as she pulled away.

"Now hurry up," she ordered, as she made for his door.

"Yes, ma'am." He got out of bed as the door closed. Quistis's subtle fragrance still lingered about his room, a reminder of why he was so darned sleepy this morning, and why he wasn't as grouchy as he'd expected to be.

Quistis. He'd definitely seen a different side of her last night – not the strict, reserved one, but the softer woman in her. Hyne, the way he was thinking about her…he was probably falling in love.

So? Love wasn't such a bad thing, come to think of it. Anyway, he wouldn't know for sure if it was good or bad unless he'd tried it before, would he? Cid always said the way to learn was through experiences in life…

Seifer smirked as he turned on the hot water tap.

- End chapter 1 -


End file.
